In Less than Seconds
by GravityDefyingTrenchCoat
Summary: 'Neal Caffery had never been one to believe that one's world could be turned upside down in less than seconds. Never.' Short one-shot. Takes place during 'Out of the Box'.


**A/N: **Hey!... Yeah, I feel like I should explain this one-shot. It was original suppose to be the prologue to a nice long story for more Neal/Peter bonding... but when the second season came out my muse... well, _completely_ died. But I did get the prologue done and my friend, 'epicfailpig', made me swear once I got an account I would put it up... so here we go. Please enjoy. :)

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the White Collar characters, I am simply 'borrowing' them...

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**In Less than Seconds**-

Neal Caffery had never been one to believe that one's world could be turned upside down in less than seconds. _Never_. He had seen it often enough in movies to say the least though. It happened to almost every super hero Neal had heard of when he was younger and cared for such things. A tragic incident sent the person's life into a spiral of misery that they managed to spend the next hour to hour and a half trying to solve and come to terms with. It _was_ sad, but it was purely fake. No one would instantly turn into Batman if they witnessed their parents get shot; most likely they would spend the rest of their lives with a therapist. But not Batman…. It was unrealistic and even when attempted to look real in those cheesy chick flicks it still was hard to believe. No one's life would splatter out of control in such a short amount of time and actually be real. It was fantasy. Fiction. And nothing more….

Yet as the engine roared from behind him where he stood on the plat form and ignite into flames taking the only women he had ever truly loved with it, Neal knew he had been wrong. The gut retching feeling of pain, confusion, and hopelessness overwhelmed his emotions and mind as pure panic took over. He could literally feel his life fall apart in a way that he had never imagined. As the smoke from the plane just began to rise, Neal could feel his plans for the future go right with it. And replacing it with nothing more than pain. Pain he had never imagined before. A billion times stronger than when Kate had left him in jail and left him behind, simply because there had always been hope. But hope seemed to be going up in smoke just like his world and the love of his life seemed to be doing at that very second.

Terror continued to feed into his person though and all logic was thrown out the window. Stumbling forward in attempted sprint, Neal lunged forward. He didn't know to what at all. All that seemed to stand in front of him was an inferno of flame but it seemed like the only thing he could do. Kate. Couldn't. Die. He would die trying if it meant only to try and save her.

But life, or fate, did not seem to agree with his momentarily twisted logic for as soon as he bolted forward he felt himself grabbed roughly by the front by two strong pairs of hands. Gripping him tightly, he tried to pull away. He knew it was Peter. They were the only ones on the platform but he tried to escape the grip anyway. Didn't he know that Kate needed him? Needed now?

Neal was sure he was screaming. Curses, accusations, or even just garbled nonsense could have been spilling from his mouth to the man who he had given his trust. But Neal did not know. His brain was seeing everything move in slow motion as though to allow him in full view to surly see the end of him and his existence because there was certainly no way his heart could take the pain it felt as he attempted to tear himself away from Peter.

Soon enough though, his face met asphalt as he was slammed into the ground; the strong arms around him never wavering from their strong hold around his body. The metallic taste of blood began to blur his senses as his thrashing gave down and hopelessness with it. His body was trembling and he was pretty sure tears were now spilling over his scratched up face. The arms around him did not release him though but seemed to be less strict in their hold, almost sympathetic in the least. But he could not make out Peter's or anyone else's voice if they spoke to him.

No, all Neal could do was stare through the veil of tears coating his eyes as he watched his life, his dreams, his hopes go up in smoke and flames reaching up to the bright blue sky. Blaring sirens were going off in the background, but Neal gave them no notice. He did not have the want or energy to. He was too preoccupied watching his life get turned upside down in less than a second. Something he would never have imagined or believed possible.

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A/N: Well, thanks for the read! Please review! Also, no flames please! They hurt my soul. .


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